Author Topic: Series II Jazz Bass Tone Settings (Read 281 times)

bkbass · « **on:** August 18, 2006, 01:19:52 PM »

Ok guys(and girls) Baring long diatribes of wood species,strings,amp settings and speakers etc.I know these will all affect tone.So for sake of good order (and brevity)how do you series 2 owners set your controls to dial in a standard jazz bass tone? Pretend your plugging directly into a recording board with all settings flat.Only your series controls to work with no cheating.

alembic76407 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 18, 2006, 01:45:55 PM »

Why would you want a Jazz bass sound out of an Alembic?
I sold my Jazz Bass because it would not get an Alembic sound !!!!

olieoliver · « **Reply #2 on:** August 18, 2006, 01:59:53 PM »

Boost the lows on your bridge PU and the highs on your neck PU and you should get pretty close to a Jazz
(after rereading the original post I removed and cut the mids on your EQ on your amp .)

I kind of like the old Jazz sound. I also like my Alembic sound, my Warwick sound, my Music Man Sound.......
I love Pizza but every night would get old.

Lack of variety is only good when it comes to spouses!

(Message edited by olieoliver on August 18, 2006)

palembic · « **Reply #3 on:** August 19, 2006, 02:03:08 AM »

Keep in mind that Alembics in general and especially Series (I and II) have very pronounced and particular highs!
Fidling with open filters and adjusting CVQ's are the way to go I think. The CVQ's basically influence your finger (or pick) attack tone. You have two volumes so that would be the same, I intend to work in live situations with a slightly preference for the Brigde Pickup. The rest is a filterproblem. THere are one for each and the technique of tone shaping is completely different.
I know ONE thing for sure: it IS in there ...somewhere ...hidden ...there ....in that wide vault of low frequencies available under that nice wooden top of that lovely bass.
Tweaking time I guess!

Paul TBO

PS: something I forgot: the POSITION of the PU's given the fact that both guitars have a 34 scale is different too! I dunno about the neck PU but it surely is for the bridge PU! The JB bridge PU is more away from the bridge than in the Alembic Series case. It ads to the clarity of that Alembic sound. So as you already said: it's in pure physics too!

(Message edited by palembic on August 19, 2006)

keavin · « **Reply #4 on:** August 19, 2006, 08:29:29 AM »

I tweek my neck filter 1/4 to 1/3 backwards & the CVQ @ 90. w/the bridge filter wide open w/the CVQ @ full,,,,to get somewhat of a fenderish tone w/no plucking......but to be honest it's not going to Sound much like a fender cause alembic series basses have a very strong personality all their own.

bkbass · « **Reply #5 on:** August 21, 2006, 08:04:02 AM »

Dear 76407, The reason I want a JB sound out of an Alembic is because I can get it out of an Alembic! I view the Series as a Swiss army knife of tone.(I know superfilter as well) All to often when showing up at a studio either the engineer or the producer or both freak out when they don't see the all ubiquious Fender logo. I have been able to get near dead on P and J Bass tones out of my signature electronics and since everything rolls down hill from the series 2 electronics it only goes to follow that theres gold in them thar hills. How many Geddy Lee fans are awe struck over Ric sounds coming out of his JB? One of the many reasons I upgraded to the series electronics was to have the ability to carry less basses around. Olie,palembic and keavin you guys are absolutely correct in the use of both filters being used as with the Q's everything is additive. Reversing the intuitive use of the Q's is where the answer is most likely to be. Very elusive so far. Olie,lack of variety in spouses as being a good thing to me means your happily married and/or she bought your last Alembic!!! LOL

bsee · « **Reply #6 on:** August 21, 2006, 08:22:18 AM »

bk, if you can get a JB tone out of Signature electronics, the settings should be pretty similar for Series, no? What settings do you use on the Signature setup?

Wood recipe could be getting in your way as well. It seems harder to get the JB tone out of an Alembic with really dense neck woods. My new Alembic with an ebony neck stringer is just too clean and tight to sound vintage Jazz, but I can get it out of the others. I can get close enough with the new bass after it goes through the tube pre, but that wouldn't pacify your engineer.

olieoliver · « **Reply #7 on:** August 21, 2006, 08:28:46 AM »

Very happily married Barry, but even if I weren't, who could afford more than one wife.

alembic76407 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 21, 2006, 09:57:20 AM »

bkbass, I was trying to be funny, I.ve had the same problem in the studio, I had an old Fender bass I had installed a knob (not wired up to anything)so when the engineer said my bass was muddy, I would turn the knob till he said stop, that sounds better.

moral to the story;
I play my Alembic in the studio.
soundmen and engineers don't like bass player anyway LOL

David T (TLO and full of __it!!!!!!!!)
just having fun

bkbass · « **Reply #9 on:** August 21, 2006, 12:17:17 PM »

Olie,I'm just finishing up the big D (got to keep the basses!) so if #2 comes along I'll reserve comment till then.LOL! 76407,been there but my dummy knob only fooled managers and club owners. The signature packages (2 basses)where custom wired by Ron since I wanted a stereo/mono operation he had to custom order stereo balance controls to his specific taper. Working with 2 volumes,2 Q's and 2 CVQ's is quite daunting.

keavin · « **Reply #10 on:** August 22, 2006, 05:06:37 AM »

pick-up positioning also determines what type of tone your Bass will offer too.....i knoticed on signature Basses the pups are farther from the neck than on series basses which would offer more of a mid-range (fenderish) tone.

bkbass · « **Reply #11 on:** August 22, 2006, 12:46:01 PM »

Your right there is a difference in the spacing,good point. But again this is for series 2 doodling/hacking/messin around so in essence(no pun)we are starting with a clean slate of the series 2 platform and talking pure tone/volume settings regardless of wood,PU,etc. I still welcome all comments.

mica · « **Reply #12 on:** August 22, 2006, 04:57:10 PM »

Yo Barry!

I'd probably keep your CVQs turned low, almost to nill. This will reduce some the attack, and get your sound more JB.

On thing on your bass that you will be fighting against is the Walnut/Purpleheart neck. The Purpleheart has a good bright sound and the Walnut makes the attack pretty sharp naturally.

Try keep your plucking fingers away from the bridge too. Listen to the difference in sound if you pluck above the bridge pickup, the neck pickup and at the 12th fret. You will hear it.

You might also want to consider experimenting with flat/ground/halfwound strings, or coated strings. At least keep the steels off it.

Manfred · « **Reply #13 on:** August 23, 2006, 04:37:49 AM »

I wanted the same thing as Barry. I was thinking about a small body bass with jazz bass pickups but I'm not sure if it will sound the way I want it. I love the sound of my Sadowsky but I prefer the small bodies.
So, just for trial I added a double channel strip between my power supply and my amp. Two channels, Bass, Mid, Treble and compression. Very simple. Bass to power supply, p.s. stereo to pre-amps. Neck to channel A, bridge to B, outputs A+B (combined) mono to glockenklang amp with the SF-2 in the effectloop. Works great. It gives me all the sounds I need, including jazz bass type of sounds. To go back to the original alembic sound, simply bypass the eq on the pre-amps. On my series I, both switches up. And it all fits in the trunk of my car and I'm not driving a truck.
But be careful, the wrong amp can also create a lot of noise.

Manfred

kmh364 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 23, 2006, 07:47:52 AM »

Manfred:

A small ash-bodied set-maple neck w/ Alembic J activators will sound like a J-bass and a whole lot more. The original EMW COTM was created with that in mind, and as an owner of one, I can tell you mission accomplished.

Cheers,

Kevin

Barry: How's it goin', bro?